Second Hand

Ageing 71 year old Jim is about to open his dingy, down-at-heel antiques shop when there is a giant crash upstairs. It transpires that young Ash, kicked out by both his mum and aunt, has crawled along the tenement loft spaces from his aunts house and has been kipping above Jim’s flat over the shop. Going for a pee in the darkness he’s come straight through the ceiling, literally crashing in to widower Jim’s life.

This play by Paul Charlton, co-writer and co-star of BBC2’s The Ginge, The Geordie And The Geek and Directed by Mark Saunders is a wee gem of a piece with some great acting from Finlay McLean as Jim, Cameron Cunningham as young homeless idealist Ash and Elaine McKenzie Ellis as home visitor Alison.

Initially, thinking Ash is a thief, Jim holds him at bay with a putter but it soon becomes apparent that Ash has landed up homeless and destitute after having a run-in with the police at a rally for the low-paid.

Alison, originally a carer with Glasgow City Council but now an employee of Cordia has been looking after Jim on a daily basis, much to his disgust, at the behest of his daughter who now lives in Australia.
The play started a bit tentatively but the actors soon got in to their stride and the piece never flagged, with some great comic and pithy exchanges, particularly between Jim and Ash.

By the conclusion we find that both young an old have something to learn from each other and that life just isn’t fair sometimes.

The play is touching, funny and poignant and an allegory for many aspects of modern life. Go and see it.